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I want young Indian composers to be able to do more than just film music. I want to give them the skills that will enable them to create their own palette of sounds instead of having to write formulaic music. It doesn't matter if they become sound engineers, producers, composers or performers - I want them to be as imaginative as they like.

I am not so complicated or intelligent a composer, nor am I very interested in becoming so. I am much more happy doing what I know I can do than what I am not sure I could do.

Living composers writing for big band are very few and far between. There are not a lot of them, and I have a talent for doing it. I am zeroing in on what I do best.

Composers, like authors, have a lot in common. Our main goal is to connect with the listener emotionally.

I've tried to help a lot of young artists get started.

I look at composers and conductors, anybody involved in music or writing or art in general; they got more done as they got older. If I can, I'll be one of those people because what I do is my passion.

I'm very interested, for instance, in music in education - getting young people not only to listen to, but participate in the music that I write. I consider this one of the most vital aspects of my work.

All great composers of the past spent most of their time studying. Feeling alone won't do the job. A man also needs technique.

I've learned a lot from the masters of orchestration, like Ravel and Stravinsky.

What inspires me is not so much the music as the opportunity to interact with composers. I think that has driven everything I've done.